Is it just me or was Black Friday not the news fodder that it was last year? I mean, in years past, the antics of shoppers were front and center on the 6 o’clock news. Journalist and columnist wrote about the strange and bizarre (possibly evil?) things people did to get a “good deal.”

This year, I didn’t hear as many of these anecdotes.­ Still, Black Friday is a filthy amoral blight on Americana.

Ages ago, Thanksgiving was a time of annually acceptable gluttony: eat everything in sight, drink a lot of sugary, highly caloric beverages, whether that’s apple cider or wine.

Now, apparently, that gluttony can manifest itself in shopping for junk that really isn’t all that necessary.

Now, I know there are those of you who believe you were just getting a “deal” and so you “gave in” and “did the Black Friday thing.”

I don’t need to hear your excuses. If you participated in Black Friday, you are part of the problem. If you used a medium of exchange to purchase a nonessential material item, you can count yourself responsible for the people who get trampled or the folks who brawl over the latest light-up-loud-action-crazy-wild toy.

And I will say this to anyone. If Mother Theresa showed up from the hereafter to buy half-priced roller skates for poor Calcutta children, I would tell her I was ashamed.

Do I sound irrational and confrontational? Yes? Good.

I am disgusted. I am fed up with America’s obsessions with THINGS.

I could grasp the Black Friday festival of stuff if it was the only day a year we bought indulgent, material goods.

If the rest of the year we patched things up, put foil on the TV antennas and wore mismatched buttons, I could get the whole buying spree thing.

Here’s the thing, though. We literally spend the whole year shopping. You want new shoes? How about a sexy new top? Or maybe another lamp for the living room? IPhone? Something? Anything?

Just hit the dollar store, big box gadget place or one of the many vibrant “marts” just blocks from each other.

Most people’s excuse for Black Friday is the aforementioned “deal saving.” Two problems with that reason.

Number one: you would save a heck of a lot more money buy not buying crap throughout the year. When it does come time to buy that prized 80-inch television or new pair of earrings, you can guiltlessly enjoy.

Oddly enough, I had to pay a jeweler a visit on this year’s Black Friday. It wasn’t for shopping. I was given a ring that needed to be sized ASAP.

I cringed driving to Modesto’s Vintage Faire Mall. Highway 99 was packed with vehicles.

Car, trucks, SUVs all racing in or away from the direction of the mall. Of course, I couldn’t see the cargo carried by each unit but I would assume it included alot of retail items and tuckered-out humans.

I encountered the quintessential parking lot frenzy. Nearly ran into a car. Later, a car almost ran into me. I also dodged several fender benders and tapped bumpers.

The parking spot I found was near the front of the store. It’s always the last place you look, right?

I bobbed and weaved through the throngs of people. Every now and then I would pause to observe the zoo.

Many people carried bags of clothing, shoes and cosmetics. They simultaneously clutched bags from Cinnabon, containers from the Mongolian Barbecue restaurant, large Starbucks cups, foot-long delicacies from Hot Dog on a Stick and boxes of burgers from the food court’s burger stand.

So let me get this straight: these people crowded the mall to “get deals” yet spent upward of $20 to buy food.

Granted, saving $80 at Victoria’s Secret isn’t canceled out with the purchase of a $5 dollar coffee, but it’s the principle of the thing.

Something here does not add up. These people are wrecking havoc on Thanksgiving ”” the time of year when we are grateful for what we have”” so they can save money, so they can buy more expendable, temporary goods like cinnamon rolls, lattes and French fries.

We live in a supply-side economy in which ration lines are unheard of, yet we wait in lines””at our own volition.

Our economy isn’t really controlled by a central overlord, yet you ”” the Black Friday consumer ”” create an oppressor.

You feed an addiction to things that ultimately controls your happiness and self-worth.

And for those of you still claiming to do it for one particularly good deal, I say: you are enablers, the co-conspirator needed by any fully realized addict.